Since 2005, I’ve been proud to call Astoria home. But since many of my friends live in Downtown Brooklyn, I spend most of my weekends on the G train or the B62 bus.

That’s why I’m excited about the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX), a streetcar that would connect Astoria to Brooklyn neighborhoods as far south as Sunset Park.

My ride from Astoria to Downtown Brooklyn usually takes over an hour each way. Transit apps have made it easier to figure out how to time my trips, but with constant service problems, I often wait around just to board — not to mention inevitable delays along the way.

And I’m actually one of the lucky ones. Many of my neighbors in Astoria work along the waterfront and have to take circuitous routes with multiple transfers five days a week.

The BQX would make their day-to-day lives much easier and free up time for them to spend with their families, cooking dinner or working out.

More and more people are moving to waterfront communities like Astoria and Downtown Brooklyn. It’s time that our transit system caught up to these new patterns of living and working and embrace the BQX.